Page holders or like articles



June 10, 1958 D. GENCO PAGE HOLDERS 0R LIKE ARTICLES Filed July 1, 1957 IN VEN TOR.

pa, BY J 3 Arraam'x United States Patent PAGE HOLDERS 0R LH E ARTICLES Dominick Genco, New York, N. Y.

Application July 1, 1957, Serial No. 669,256

1 Claim. (Cl. 24-66) This invention relates to page holders for books and the like, and aims to provide certain new and useful improvements in page holders whereby the utility and operation of the device are substantially improved. While the instant device is primarily intended to serve as a page holder it also serves as a place mark in a book or the like, and it is furthermore adaptable to additional and other purposes than those stated above.

When the present invention is applied to a book the reader gets greater enjoyment out of his reading because he does not have to hold down each page as it is turned.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved page marker for a book or the like,

having a resilient clamp adapted to clamp on the cover of the book and having an elongated arched arm pivotally and frictionally engaged in the yoke of the clamp and adapted to extend inward from the edge of the cover substantially at right angles thereto, the arm being resilient and adapted to press down upon the accumulated pages which have been turned in reading the book, whence the said pages are held and prevented from turning back of their own accord. Thus, as each successive page is turned it is slid under the extremity of the said arm to be held against the previously turned pages. To facilitate passage of a newly turned page under the extremity of the arm, the latter is preferably provided with a small smooth-surfaced enlargement such as a ball. A person who is lecturing may find it useful to employ two such page holders, one on each side of the book,to hold together both the turned and the unturned pages so that the pages to which he last referred remain open and exposed when he wishes to refer to the book again.

The above as well as additional and more specific objects will be clarified in the following description wherein reference numerals ref-er to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. it is to be noted that certain variations or modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Referring briefly to the drawing, Fig. l is a perspective view of the page holder of the present invention applied to a book to illustrate an application of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the page holder.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the page holder.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, showing one form of friction pivot for the elongated arm of the device.

Fig. 4A is a sectional view similar to Fig. 4, showing another form of the friction pivot.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral indicates a book having the covers or boards 11 and 12a, to one cover, shown at 11, the page holder 12 of the present invention is shown applied.

The page holder 12 comprises, first, a resilient clamp 13 having opposed jaws 14 and 15. The clamp is formed of a single length of, relatively speaking, stout resilient wire or the like which is first deformed approximately intermediate its length into substantially the shape of a U 2 thus forming the bight 16 which, in the clamp, provides the free extremity of the lower jaw 14. Thus each jaw has two laterally spaced sides; that is, the jaw 14 has the two sides 17, and the upper jaw has the two spaced sides 18. To form the two jaws, the original U-shaped material, not shown, is deformed approximately intermediate its length in a direction at right angles to the plane of the U to form the two jaws 14 and 15. Further, the junction of the jaws is rounded to provide an incompletely circular eyelet or bight 19 on each side of the clamp, that is, each eyelet is formed on the end of one arm 18 of the jaw 15 and the arm 17 of the jaw 13 in, approximately, the same vertical plane as the arm 18. The two eyelets 19 are aligned to receive a threaded bolt 20 having a head 21 on one end and a nut 22 on the other end.

An elongated downwardly arched resilient arm 23 has a small ball 24 on one end and has, in one form, the other end 25a spirally wound about the bolt 20. Thus, the turns 25 of the arm end 25a are clamped between the eyelets 19 in the manner of a spring, the said turns being, of course, resilient, and being flexed to tend to separate axially. Hence, by tightening or loosening the nut 22 on the bolt 20, the frictional engagement of the end 25a between the eyelets 19 may be varied so that the arm 23 may be either tightly locked between the eyelets or loosened sufliciently to permit it to be swung to a new position. Thus the arm is pivotally as well as frictionally adjustable on its pivot bolt, to accommodate the device to varying circumstances.

In the form of friction pivot for the arm 23 shown in Fig. 4A, the arm 23a is identical to the arm 23 but instead of having spiral spring windings 25 on its pivoted end, it has only a single circular turn or ring 26 thereon, surrounding the bolt 20 between the eyelets or bights 19. Thus, in this form of friction pivot the ring 26 is frictionally secured between the bights 19 and adjustment of the degree of friction between free rotation of the ring about the bolt and fixed securement thereon,

is likewise attained by tightening or loosening of the bolt nut.

In use, the clamp 13 is slipped over the edge of a cover of the book, as illustrated in Fig. l, with the tension of the arm 23 or 23a adjusted so that it will normally urge its balled end down upon the top page of the accumulated pad of turned pages as the pages are turned, in reading, and slipped successively under the ball 24. As the drawing shows, the arm 23 or 23a is preferably made of a thinner or smaller diameter wire or the like, whence the sliding of successive pages under the ball 24 is facilitated owing to the greater yieldability of the arm.

Thus, as one reads, each successively turned page is securely held against swinging back to the right, as is the tendency of the pages of a book, with the consequence that the reader may concentrate on his reading instead of having to hold down the turned pages. Of course any reader may use two page holders like the one illustrated, that is, one on each side of the book, so that the unturned pages are also held together, and each page when being turned is readily slipped from under the second page holder arm, not shown.

I claim:

A device of the class described comprising a clamp formed of a single piece of resilient wire having opposed jaws each consisting of a pair of spaced sections of the wire with said sections of one jaw lying in a plane approximately parallel to the spaced sections of the other of the jaws, one of said jaws having a bight joining the outer extremities thereof, a circular bight joining one of the sections of each of the jaws with one of the sections of the other of the jaws, the circular bights lying in parallel planes and being aligned, an elongated arm having n e1: 2? one end deformed into a circular contour, said one end References Cited in the file of this patent of the arm being positioned between said circular hights, UNITED STATES PATENTS a bolt passing through Sald circular bights and said one end of the arm thereby pivoting the arm on the bolt, 309,777 i 231 1884 and: means for urging said circular big hts against said one *1 358072 Rlvers 221 1887 and qfrthe arm L 2,505,209 Russell Apr. 25, 1950 

